For Syracuse guard J.J. Starling, less may indeed be more

As we countdown to tipoff for the Syracuse basketball season beginning on Nov. 3, The Juice Online will be doing a player-by-player preview. Today, we look at Syracuse guard J.J. Starling.

Usually, when a team’s top scorer returns for his senior year, the team and its coach staff often look to expand his role and have even more of the offense flow through him. For Syracuse and J.J. Starling, that is likely not the case this season, as the influx of talent to the roster leaves Starling in a position where the team is likely better served by him commanding a smaller role on the team.

Starling struggled with his shot in the heaviest role on last year's team

Starling was the unquestioned leader of the offense last year, finishing as the top scorer while also leading the Orange by far in field goal attempts, both inside and outside the arc, despite missing seven games with an injury to his left (non-shooting) wrist. His 415 field goal attempts last season left Eddie Lampkin’s 260 attempts far in the rearview mirror and his 142 3-point attempts outpaced Chris Bell by nine, even though Lampkin and Bell played in every game.

The real issue was that Starling far too often missed the mark with those shots, especially from beyond the arc. Despite hoisting up that team-leading number of 3’s, Starling shot just 26.8 percent on them. January was his best month, making 30.0 percent of those shots, a mark buoyed by going 11-for-26 (42.3 percent) in a three-game span. His struggles outside the arc made him one of the least effective shooters on the roster, as he finished eighth in effective field goal percentage and ninth in true shooting, which both weight 3-point shooting.

This year's roster allows Starling to show a more diverse set of skills

But, this year’s much more offensively talented team surrounding Starling means that he has less of the load to shoulder. It also gives him the opportunity to tap into some of the playmaking skills he added to his game last year. While a sometime starter at point last season, Starling posted a career high 17.0 assist rate, including handing out at least four assists in eight games.

SU also needs to get a contribution out of Starling on the other end of the court. While the team was a poor defensive unit, of the ten players to spend at least 350 minutes on the floor, Starling was eighth in defensive rating, ahead of only Chris Bell and Elijah Moore. Advanced stats were a little more mixed, as Starling rated fourth on the team in defensive win shares, but was last on the team in defensive box plus-minus.

An established set-up man should make Starling's role easier and the Orange better

The good news, however, is that the presence of Naithan George should give Starling an opportunity to become more efficient, as he was two years ago when playing next to Judah Mintz. Able to play as just a two-guard as a sophomore, Starling shot 52.6 percent on 2-point shots and 32.6 percent on 3’s, both comfortably the best marks of his career. In particular, Starling was a lot better in the mid-range, shooting a solid 47.6 percent on “far 2’s”, as opposed to last season’s 37.4 percent mark.

While that 3-point shooting mark still need to improve to around 35 percent, most of the 3’s Starling has made in the last two years were assisted by a teammate (69 of 82). Being able to play more as a catch-and-shoot player may help that success rate rise, as well.

A large part of this season’s success hinges on Starling and not because he has proven to be a top scorer. The question is if he can blend into a more balanced offense and contribute in a more well-rounded fashion. If he can, the path to victories gets a little clearer.

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